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What better way to celebrate than to discuss some of the great ways yoga can improve our lives?
Not only does yoga make it easier to manage stress, pain, and anxiety, but it also helps our minds stay sharp, in shape, and healthy!
How Yoga Improves a Person’s Mood:
Medical Hypotheses, a forum in medicine and related biomedical sciences, just published a new theory discussing how yoga may have the power to stabilize the autonomic nervous system and achieve homeostasis.
The autonomic nervous system is the part of your body’s makeup that controls all your daily involuntary functions. This includes everything from controlling the beating of your heart, to the widening/narrowing of your blood vessels, and the digesting of your food, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
There are two sub-categories that make up the autonomic nervous system-- the sympathetic and parasympathetic. And because Medical Hypotheses believes yoga can affect the autonomic nervous system, this means yoga can raise parasympathetic levels which will help cure bad moods and depression.
Yogamovement.com states that, “Studies have shown that long, deep breathing encourages the actions of the parasympathetic nervous system and allows relaxation and healing to occur.” So if you are interested in relieving some of the stress that accumulates over the day, focus on your breathing and try the deep breathing techniques of yoga!
After all, americanyogaassociation.org shares, “Learning to concentrate simply on the sound of the breath as you inhale and exhale evenly and smoothly will help you gently but effectively switch your attention from feelings of anxiety to feelings of relaxation.”
So if you’ve never tried yoga before, give it a try! And if you have been practicing yoga already, keep it up! With all the different ways it can improve your state of mind, it’s a great exercise to incorporate into your life!
What's your favorite aspect of yoga? Let us know!
